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Dead Space
Dead Space is a survival horror third-person shooter video game, developed by EA Redwood Shores (now known as Visceral Games) for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, Blackberry Playbook and Xbox 360. The game was made available on Steam on October 20, 2008.3 The game puts the player in control of engineer Isaac Clarke, who battles "Necromorphs", monsters created from corpses and an alien virus, aboard an interstellar mining ship, the USG Ishimura.4 The game was met with positive critical reception, and has sold over 2 million copies. A sequel, Dead Space 2, was released on January 25, 2011.56 Dead Space 3 will be coming out March 2013. Games play The player controls Isaac Clarke (named after science fiction writers Isaac Asimov and Arthur C. Clarke7), an engineer who must fight his way through a mining starship infested with hostile, grotesque monstrosities called Necromorphs, which are reanimated human corpses. The game is played from an "over the shoulder" third-person perspective.4 Dead Space does not feature a traditional heads-up display. Instead, all information is relayed to the player via holographic projections from Isaac's "RIG" (Resource Integration Gear) spacesuit and the weapons themselves. For example, a small holographic display on the weapon shows the ammunition count; also, the "health meter" that indicates Isaac's condition is integrated into the suit spine.8 Via floating holograms projected in front of Isaac, the player can check the current objectives and the 3D map, or access the inventory screen to manage items. However, the game still progresses in real time, so the player is in danger of being attacked while doing this.8 Combat involves a mechanism called "strategic dismemberment", in which the player must cut off limbs or sections of the Necromorphs to defeat them. For example, shooting certain Necromorphs in the head will have little effect, and they will continue attacking the player unless their limbs are removed instead.9 Depending on how they are wounded, Necromorphs can adopt new stances and tactics, even sprouting new limbs or giving birth to new enemies in the process.10 Every Necromorph is also programmed with at least one unique way of killing Isaac himself, should the player fail to defeat them.needed In keeping with Isaac's profession as an engineer rather than a soldier, the weapons in Dead Space are mostly improvised from mining tools,8such as a plasma cutter, rotary saw, a hydrazine torch used as a flamethrower, a high-power energy beam called the contact beam, and a force cannon that emits powerful shock waves. A military-grade automatic rifle is also available. All weapons feature a secondary-fire mode; for example, the plasma cutter can be rotated 90 degrees for an optimal angle for more effective dismemberment of vertical limbs (such as legs on a normal bipedal humanoid).11 The player must scavenge for ammunition and other various items, which are found throughout the ship or dropped by Necromorphs when killed. Automated stores throughout the ship can be accessed to buy and sell items or store them for later use. Also, the player can use work benches and use "power nodes" to upgrade Isaac's suit and weapons. Other than weapons, Isaac is also equipped with other tools to help him survive, solve puzzles, and combat enemies more effectively. Isaac's Stasis ability can be used to slow down enemies and objects temporarily, and a Kinesis module allows Isaac to pick up and throw items, which also allows him to impale Necromorphs.8 Dead Space also features vacuum and zero gravity environments, and Isaac can navigate through them using his pressurized suit and magnetic boots.12 Isaac will eventually suffocate while in a vacuum or a toxic environment as his suit can only contain a limited amount of air, so the player is forced to proceed quickly when in these situations. Also, Isaac can jump from platform to platform in weightless environments. Some levels even lead out onto the surface of the ship's hull, where the player must watch out for floating debris that may cause Isaac to lose his footing. plot The game takes place in the year 2507,13 when the USG Ishimura (Japanese: "石村", lit. "Stone Village"), a "planetcracker" starship, sends out adistress signal to the Concordance Extraction Corporation (CEC) during a mining operation on the planet Aegis VII. The CEC dispatches the USGKellion to investigate. After a guidance system malfunction crashes the Kellion into the Ishimura dock, the crew tries to seek other means of transport.14 As they explore what appears to be an abandoned ship, they are attacked by grotesque monsters, killing off all but Isaac Clarke (who becomes separated), Hammond, and Kendra. Hammond notices that many of the ship's systems are failing; he and Kendra direct and assist Isaac in fixing them, so as to keep them all alive for rescue.15 During the game, Isaac discovers various text and audio logs scattered throughout the ship, piecing together the events that transpired prior to their arrival: during the course of its illegal mining of Aegis VII, the Ishimura crew found the Red Marker, the most valuable relic of Unitology (an influential and powerful religion). Captain Matthius, a devout Unitologist, shifted focus (after being asked by the Church of Unitology) from mining to retrieving the Marker.16 Soon after the Marker's extraction to the Ishimura, humans from the planet's colony and the ship suffered from mass hysteria and violent hallucinations, before subsequently killing each other. Matthius cut off traffic and communications between the two sides, later going insane. Chief Science Officer Terrance Kyne tried to relieve him of duty, only to accidentally kill him in a struggle.17 An alien virus, the genetic coding of which is encrypted on the Marker, then began ravaging the Aegis VII colony, infecting the bodies of the dead and turning them into "Necromorphs" - mutated and reanimated corpses that violently slaughter infected humans to spread the infestation. A colony shuttle carrying an infectious Necromorph caused the scourge to spread across the Ishimura. Though Hammond states that he is unaware of what the Marker is, Kendra confides to Isaac that Hammond may be lying. Isaac later encounters his girlfriend Nicole, one of the Ishimura's crew, though they are unable to meet.18 After repairing the critical systems, Isaac's team launches a second beacon, attracting the nearby USM Valor; however, the Valor, having picked up an escape pod with a Necromorph inside (launched earlier by Hammond) is overrun and crashes into the ship. Hammond deduces, from the military equipment he finds on board, that the Valor was actually assigned to destroy theIshimura.19 Deciding that they must escape while they can, Isaac and Hammond retrieve the Valor's power core in order to repair an available shuttle, though Hammond is killed by a Necromorph in the process. Dr. Kyne, one of the last survivors of the Ishimura, later contacts Isaac, urging him to return the Marker to Aegis VII, believing that it can restrain the Hive Mind, a creature that controls the Necromorphs (though originally created for military purposes).20 After assisting Isaac in loading the Marker onto the shuttle, Kendra murders Kyne, revealing herself as a government operative ordered to retrieve the Marker for her superiors.21 She reveals that the Marker is a reverse-engineered copy of an artifact found on Earth, placed on Aegis VII by the government to monitor its effects. She then leaves on the shuttle without Isaac, but Nicole arrives and is able to help him recall the shuttle via remote pilot, prompting Kendra to flee via escape pod.22 Isaac takes the Marker back to the colony, pacifying the Hive Mind and creating a "dead space" that makes all Necromorphs in the surrounding area dormant; however, this also disrupts thegravity tethers keeping Aegis VII from tearing itself apart.23 As Isaac attempts to escape the planet, Kendra appears and starts to take the Marker back to the shuttle. She shows Isaac, through a recovered distress transmission, that Nicole committed suicide via lethal injection before Isaac's team arrived on the Ishimura; his visions of her were the Marker's attempts to bring itself back to the planet.24 Isaac intercepts Kendra loading the Marker back into the shuttle; before she can leave, however, the Hive Mind reawakens, violently killing her, leaving Isaac to defeat it in a ferocious battle.25 Leaving the Marker behind, Isaac flies off in the shuttle before the colony is destroyed. As he sets course away from Aegis VII, Isaac removes his helmet and watches Nicole's first transmission again; now knowing how it ends, he turns it off before it can finish. Noticing something in his peripherals, Isaac looks to his right and is attacked by a vision of a bloody Nicole (providing some foreshadowing of Isaac's growing dementia in the sequel), just before the scene cuts to black.26 Characters  Isaac Clarke – Main character and silent protagonist of the game. Isaac is a ship system specialist and an engineer traveling aboard the shuttle USG Kellion to investigate and repair the USGIshimura. Isaac is also trying to find his girlfriend, Nicole, a medical specialist assigned to the ship, whose fate is unknown at the start of the game. Throughout the game, Isaac stumbles across a conspiracy involving the Church of Unitology and the Earth government (EarthGov).  Kendra Daniels – Technologist and part of the Kellion repair team. She is one of the game's main protagonists and later the main human antagonist. She helps the player through theIshimura in many ways, giving directions and assisting through areas of the ship that would otherwise be inaccessible. Kendra is killed near the end of the game by the Hive Mind. Tonantzin Carmelo provides her likeness and voice.  Zach Hammond – Senior security officer on board the Kellion who travels with Isaac and Kendra to the Ishimura. Hammond's initial desire to complete the original mission and not immediately abort puts him at odds with Kendra, who finds this suspicious. Throughout the game, he works to fulfill the original mission; but as time goes on, he becomes more disillusioned and focuses instead on getting himself and the rest of his team off the ship. Hammond is killed by a Necromorph late in the game. Peter Mensah provides his likeness and voice.  Dr. Challus Mercer - A doctor aboard the USG Ishimura, a devout Unitologist and one of the main antagonists of Dead Space. In the wake of the calamity that has gripped the Ishimura, Mercer has become a religious fanatic, attempting to convince the crew to commit mass suicide. Mercer is killed late in the game when he willingly lets himself become infected. Navid Negahban provides his likeness and voice.  Dr. Terrence Kyne – Chief Science Officer of the Ishimura who appears later in the game, asking for help from Isaac. It is later discovered that he is responsible for the sabotage of most of the ship systems that Isaac repairs. He is suffering from dementia, but offers to aid Isaac in stopping the Necromorph scrouge. Kyne attempted to relieve Captain Matthius of duty during the crisis on the ship, but instead seems to have been complicit in the captain's death. He regularly interacts with his dead wife, an apparition caused by the Red Marker that Isaac cannot see. Kyne is later killed by Kendra. Keith Szarabajka provides his likeness and voice in the video game and the animated film Dead Space: Downfall.  Nicole Brennan – Medical officer aboard the Ishimura prior to the events of the game. The game starts with a video from Nicole, asking for help after the ship's infestation, establishing one of Isaac's reasons for coming to the Ishimura, as Nicole is his girlfriend. He meets and receives messages from Nicole several times as he moves through the ship. Iyari Limon provides her l